Re: Root Knot Nematodes in my nightshade box!!!

**sanderson** 7/12/2014, 3:43 am

Good experiment with the marigolds.

I'm wondering if you will be able to get a full solarization with that open space in the plastic. Any chance you can carefully move the remaining plants and make a tight seal with plastic to get the temps up?

dstack 7/12/2014, 8:14 am

Good question. But I believe as long as the plastic is sealed all around the edges, it should work just fine.

yolos 7/12/2014, 10:03 am

sanderson wrote:Good experiment with the marigolds.

I'm wondering if you will be able to get a full solarization with that open space in the plastic. Any chance you can carefully move the remaining plants and make a tight seal with plastic to get the temps up?

FWIW -When I was researching solarization, the articles I read said that to get the best heat build up deeper into the soil you had to lay the plastic on the soil so it was touching the soil. Also, use a thin enough plastic so it would form to the soil. The soil should be moist before you lay the plastic on. All sides of the plastic should be completely buried to keep the heat in.

dstack 7/12/2014, 10:19 am

yolos wrote:
sanderson wrote:Good experiment with the marigolds.

I'm wondering if you will be able to get a full solarization with that open space in the plastic. Any chance you can carefully move the remaining plants and make a tight seal with plastic to get the temps up?

FWIW -When I was researching solarization, the articles I read said that to get the best heat build up deeper into the soil you had to lay the plastic on the soil so it was touching the soil. Also, use a thin enough plastic so it would form to the soil. The soil should be moist before you lay the plastic on. All sides of the plastic should be completely buried to keep the heat in.

Yes, those are all good points which I found in my research as well. My extension office was very helpful in getting me the info that I needed, and I solarized several areas of my non-SFG last summer. While it's very difficult to get the soil even enough so that it all touches, I found that it wasn't critical. My solarzing last summer was quite effective. Research shows that it's effective down about 12 inches, and my bed is only 8" with about an average of 6.5" of soil.

**sanderson** 7/12/2014, 3:06 pm

Dstack, Good point. Okay, then.

dstack 9/12/2014, 9:48 pm

I'm amazed at how quickly this bed has sprung back to life!

Root Knot Nematodes in my nightshade box!!! - Page 2 Amazin10

Pole Beans:
Root Knot Nematodes in my nightshade box!!! - Page 2 Amazin11

Zukes:

Root Knot Nematodes in my nightshade box!!! - Page 2 Amazin12

Only two months ago most of this bed was covered in plastic to kill the nematodes.

Root Knot Nematodes in my nightshade box!!! - Page 2 Solari13

TCgardening 9/12/2014, 10:25 pm

Being just north of you on a ancient sand dune we brought in plenty of good compost. Then selected nematode resistant varieties. So far so good! The tomatoes did real well until the summer heat, Seminole squash is back for a second coming and Rosita egg plant has been coming on strong all summer. Mine are all in raised beds.

**sanderson** 9/13/2014, 1:14 am

Dstack. Such a difference! Shocked

Congrats.

BrianDorry55 3/31/2015, 11:45 am

Dstack,

Have you looked into any benefits of fighting root knot nematodes mycorrhizal fungi?

dstack 3/31/2015, 12:18 pm

BrianDorry55 wrote:Dstack,

Have you looked into any benefits of fighting root knot nematodes mycorrhizal fungi?

No BrIan. I thought I've heard and read it all on the subject, but don't recall coming across that in my research. Do you have a good source on this? I'm definitely interested if this is something that both my county extension office and I have missed.

BrianDorry55 3/31/2015, 2:46 pm

Well I've been looking into it because I know I have RKN in certain spots in my yard...I simply don't have the means to try to combat them to the extent that you have...so I'm leaning towards more cost effective ways to fight them as best as possible...beyond the marigolds and simply having rich compost in the bed...I started thinking that maybe just making sure you have as much support for healthy roots as possible might be the best route to take. Mycorrhizal fungi basically form a mutual beneficial relationship with the root system. It can be naturally occurring in rich soils and composts but from what I can tell, if you're throwing together a bunch of different components to create a mix, you're going to have poor micronutrients and beneficial fungi in the mix. There are some different studies that come up when you google "mycorrhizal fungi against nematodes"...and to be honest, I sometimes have a hard time making sense of some of these articles...but it seems that most have found good results. Here's just one thing that I found: https://planetpermaculture.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/mycorrhizal-fungi-helps-protect-plants-against-root-knot-nematodes-infection/ ...but like I said, there seems to be a handful of studies dealing with different RKN. I'm purchasing some to try out...along with these probiotics: http://www.smilinggardener.com/sale/effective-microorganisms-and-scd-probiotics (cheaper on amazon and free shipping with Prime) and some azomite (http://www.amazon.com/Root-Naturally-Azomite-Rock-Dust/dp/B00GOH6WVY/ref=pd_sim_sbs_lg_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=1GBWVF0XB710NKFT9TQZ). Trying to take as many preventative steps as possible without spending a fortune. Maybe enabling your plants to better fight the pest is a better route then trying to shoulder the load yourself!

dstack 3/31/2015, 3:31 pm

BrianDorry55 wrote:Well I've been looking into it because I know I have RKN in certain spots in my yard....

I'm purchasing some to try out...along with these probiotics: http://www.smilinggardener.com/sale/effective-microorganisms-and-scd-probiotics (cheaper on amazon and free shipping with Prime) and some azomite (http://www.amazon.com/Root-Naturally-Azomite-Rock-Dust/dp/B00GOH6WVY/ref=pd_sim_sbs_lg_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=1GBWVF0XB710NKFT9TQZ). Trying to take as many preventative steps as possible without spending a fortune. Maybe enabling your plants to better fight the pest is a better route then trying to shoulder the load yourself!

I'm all about "tryng to take as many preventative steps as possible without spending a fortune." And I look forward to a follow-up from you to hear how it worked for you. I've learned that I may not ever eradicate them from my garden, but I don't need to panic whenever I see an infestation either. Now it's more about managing them with every means possible and feasible.

Good luck, and please let me know how it goes!

Roseinarosecity 3/31/2015, 7:20 pm

I'm glad you had success with solarizing. I solarized two years ago and the following year I had the best healthy tomatoes ever. This year I am hoping that I can continue to have success, but I am not just counting on the solarization benefits to continue, I added this year crab meal because I read that crab meal is chitin and it encourages a chitin-eating-fungi. A University of California Management Guidelines states:

"Animal-based amendments include chitin-containing crab shells and shrimp shells that apparently stimulate populations of soil-dwelling fungi that feed on chitin. Chitin is a component of nematodes' egg shells, these chitin-feeding fungi also feed on these egg shells." From this link: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r280200111.html

Dstack, in all your attempts to combat RKN did you try adding chitin to your soil?

dstack 3/31/2015, 7:54 pm

Roseinarosecity wrote:I'm glad you had success with solarizing. I solarized two years ago and the following year I had the best healthy tomatoes ever. This year I am hoping that I can continue to have success, but I am not just counting on the solarization benefits to continue, I added this year crab meal because I read that crab meal is chitin and it encourages a chitin-eating-fungi. A University of California Management Guidelines states:

"Animal-based amendments include chitin-containing crab shells and shrimp shells that apparently stimulate populations of soil-dwelling fungi that feed on chitin....

Dstack, in all your attempts to combat RKN did you try adding chitin to your soil?

No, but I've read about chitin and have wanted to try it. Where did you buy yours? Is it expensive?

TCgardening 3/31/2015, 10:26 pm

Have you tried the nematode resistant varieties? Tomatoes with VFN in their pedigree are supposed to be resistant.
Give them a try to see if they work in your area.

Roseinarosecity 4/1/2015, 12:52 am

I bought my crab meal through Amazon because it was not available locally.

dstack 4/1/2015, 5:56 am

TCgardening wrote:Have you tried the nematode resistant varieties? Tomatoes with VFN in their pedigree are supposed to be resistant.
Give them a try to see if they work in your area.

I have some very young seedlings of Anahu tomato, Charleston pepper, and others. The following is a copy/paste from what I wrote about this from another thread:

I've found varieties of RKN resistant tomatoes, peppers and even passion fruit. I'm aware that often resistance breaks down in high temperatures, so I'll need to mulch that soil to keep the temperature low. I've read that even if resistance breaks down, many gardeners find that they're still more productive than non-resistant plants.

So I'm excited about trying these RKN resistant cultivars:

Anahu tomato (indeterminate) - ordered from Baker Creek Heirlooms
Healani tomato (determinate) - known to do well in hot humid tropics - will be notified when it Baker Creek has it in stock
Charleston Belle Pepper - ordered from Baker Creek Heirlooms
Yellow Passion Fruit - 2 seedlings successfully germinated, and can't wait to propagate more with cuttings and eventually use it as root stock
Turkey Berry - great for using as root stock for eggplant. (See my thread about Perennial Eggplant Trees... https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t18463-perennial-eggplant-trees?highlight=eggplant+tree ) I have many young seedlings!

Although, I'm not certain if Turkey Berry is RKN resistant, but I guess I'll find out.

**sanderson** 4/1/2015, 2:09 pm

Another supply for crab meal: www.kelp4less.com They have "sale days."

**walshevak** 4/2/2015, 3:06 pm

Oh, I need to see if the source of crab and shrimp shell compost I bought 2 year ago is still available.

Kay

TCgardening 4/2/2015, 8:10 pm

Have others had nematode suppression with crab & shrimp compost? I seem to be in nematode city so any help is appreciated.
I made the mistake last year of buying interesting tomato seeds from the catalog. Most were not nematode resistant so I had a pitiful season.
Craig

dstack 4/2/2015, 9:04 pm

TCgardening wrote:Have others had nematode suppression with crab & shrimp compost? I seem to be in nematode city so any help is appreciated.
I made the mistake last year of buying interesting tomato seeds from the catalog. Most were not nematode resistant so I had a pitiful season.
Craig

My nightshade bed is nematode city around here. I'll be ripping everything out and solarizing it comes the end of May. As things die out in that bed I'he been replacing nightshades with either things that are nematode resistant, and in some squares I'm testing some plants to see how they do in RKN infested MM.

That's good to know about the shrimp and crab compost.

TCgardening 4/2/2015, 9:44 pm

I may to do the same here this summer. I have a eggplant that seems to be impervious to them, a variety from Puerto Rico. I planted some yard long beans but just found out they are nematode candy. We'll see how they make out real soon.

shearer 7/30/2016, 1:27 pm

dstack wrote: I've been contending with root knot nematodes for a number of years. In AR my agri disease lab recommended 1) solarization, 2) plow under mustard as a green manure, 3) remove infested roots as soon as possible, 4) rotate crops, 5) they don't like organic material, 6) probably marigolds too. Because of the composition of SFG medium, I was hoping that the nematodes would not infest the new soil. Sounds like there is no escaping them Any suggestions? Jay escaping . d of it's vigor. So I pulled it up, and sure enough... ROOT KNOTS! I was like... you've GOT to be kidding!

If you've followed my posts you may know I'm only in my third season of SFG-ing of three 4'x8' table-top boxes built last Sept., and I've been SO careful with sanitation of tools and careful about contamination that I've been accused of being OCD about nematodes and sanitation. Apparently I wasn't careful enough! So now I'm... TICKED (and careful not to use profanity here).

I could drive myself nuts over what went wrong, but I've known that this could be a very real possibility. All it takes as one cat to dig around in nematode infested soil and then jump their contaminated paws into a bed.... DONE! (But I adore my cats, and would never get rid of them.)

MY PLAN:
Over the next few weeks I'll plant lots of French Marigolds in this box among the nightshades and their companions, but ESPECIALLY where that tomato plant died. And I'll start cuttings of the tomatoes and eggplant ASAP, which I'll keep potted in my sanitized pots, and mushroom compost. Come June, I'll solarize the box for 5 or 6 weeks.

One thing I like about SFG is that it's easy to solarize, so there's at least that for a positive. [SIGH!]

dstack 7/30/2016, 11:06 pm

(Shearer's question somehow got mixed inside the quote. His questions:
I've been contending with root knot nematodes for a number of years. In AR my agri disease lab recommended 1) solarization, 2) plow under mustard as a green manure, 3) remove infested roots as soon as possible, 4) rotate crops, 5) they don't like organic material, 6) probably marigolds too. Because of the composition of SFG medium, I was hoping that the nematodes would not infest the new soil. Sounds like there is no escaping them Any suggestions? Jay)

I recommend doing all of those, although I haven't tried #2 with the mustard greens. I read somewhere that mustard greens kill RKNs, but the variety of mustards I tried growing were like candy to the strain of RKNs that I have. That brings me to the subject of Marigold's. Some Marigolds are hosts to some strains of RKNs! I recommend Marigolds that you know are French. I made the mistake of trusting a master gardener who was given seeds from someone who said they were French, but they were also hosting my RKNs.

What zone do you live in? I'm in 10a here in South Florida, and I've learned that it's just easier for me to solarize all summer. I'm still solarizing since Memorial Day weekend, and will plant the first of 3 beds in a couple of weeks. I already have seedlings growing inside the house for my fall garden.

I should add that I've learned to grow summer greens that grow fine in the ground here while solarizing like amaranth, longevity spinach, Malabar spinach, Moringa, etc.

**AtlantaMarie** 7/31/2016, 7:46 am

Hi Shearer. Welcome from Atlanta, GA! Glad you've joined us.

And sorry that you're having to deal with that issue...

DStack is certainly the guy to help you!!

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Root Knot Nematodes in my nightshade box!!!